Oh for the Love of-
by GigaDragonPuffMaster
Summary: Jack knew there were other Spirits out there. He had met quite a few of them, of course. Most of them couldn't handle his outward personality, but they all tried to get along for the greater good. But what happens when things start to go wrong for the lesser spirits? Will the Guardians be able to help? Possible romance. I haven't quite decided yet. Rating may change
1. Chapter 1

**I'm really bad at summaries guys, so I apologize in advance. I know a lot of people who've been coming up with these characters, and I sincerely hope that Val isn't as lame as I initially thought. :D**

It was nearing the evening, and she knew that eventually she was going to need to get back to the Roost. She watched from the rooftop as the young gentleman continued walking down the street. The quiet observer raised her arm and twisted her other hand to form an arrow of light. Narrowing an eye, she cocked the weapon and patiently waiting for her opportunity. This particular victim would trip over that one tricky step into the library and fall over onto the girl that worked there. It would be perfect.

She smiled broadly as the door opened and he tripped just as predicted. She released the arrow and it flew straight and landed home, right into her victim's back. She laughed as he tripped over himself, and made a grab at the first thing he could, which was the poor librarian. Normally, pain wasn't in her agenda. But sometimes in the name of love, you had to crack a few ankles.

As she watched with satisfaction, something odd happened. Her small wings twitched in irritation as she saw the light exit out the gentleman's back, same way it had gone in. The arrow of light fell to the ground behind him, and there was a loud shriek and a crack of a hand across a face.

She winced, the white feathers on her ears lowering back in sympathy. The young man seemed shocked to say the least, sitting back on the steps and holding his face. He made a bad move.

The spirit sighed and opened her wings, fluttering down and gently landing next to the man. She leaned down and picked up the arrow, giving a slight scoff.

"Why in the world…" She looked over at the man who rose to his feet, rubbing his face. "It's a pity really. I thought you'd be a keeper too."

She raised her eyebrows as he turned around and passed right through her, and she groaned. She ran a finger through her feathery hair, pulling out a quill that looked like one of her own feathers. She waved a hand and a large scroll appeared before her. She yanked it open and scratched a name out angrily

.

"Ralph. I swear…" She wrote in large letters next to his name 'Klutz'. She rolled up the scroll and shoved it into a pocket in the front of her robe. Her wings opened again and she jumped into the sky with the help of the wind, taking off to her next destination.

Burgess was a nice little town. She might not have been paying too much attention to it lately, but it was always worth a look. Especially when the Threads started to hum. She patted the bow absentmindedly, flying low over one of the rooftops. The sun had lowered by this time, and the stars were starting to blink into existence again.

She landed gently on the top of a radio tower and whipped out her quill and scroll again. She started going down the list of names of all the people in Burgess, but nothing really showed that needed her attention.

"Hmmm… No…No…too young…way too old." She mumbled to herself as she crunched names.

"You know, talking to yourself means your insane."

She whipped around so fast that she lost her footing and slipped off the Radio tower. She managed to catch a pole and stopped her descent with the loss of a couple smaller feathers. She glared up at the teen Guardian, and tried hoisting herself back up, but her foot kept slipping. Jack Frost laughed, supported by the Wind and clutching his stomach.

"Would you stop your stupid chortling and _help me_?" She growled, "I swear, when I get my hands on you-"

"Relax, FeatherButt. I got you." He leaned down and took her hand, yanking her back up to the top of the tower.

"I told you not to call me that." She snapped, "Don't you have something better to do then stalk me all over creation?"

Jack shrugged a bit, balancing himself on his staff. "Sandy and I were on the same rounds. I was just curious why you were over here. You find anyone to shoot?"

"Don't tempt me."

The would-be argument was cut short when a stream of golden sand twisted through the two spirits, aiming for the apartment behind them. She looked up to see the Keeper of Dreams standing on his cloud high above them, conducting his orchestra of sands.

She watched him work for a moment, sighing in envy. It must be nice, to have no disappointment as you work. She looked back over at Jack Frost who was watching as well. It was an odd comfortable silence for a few minutes. Eventually, the Sandman decided that the children should get to deeper sleep, so he pulled back the streams with a flurry of his hands.

"You finished up, Sandy?"

The oldest Guardian nodded as he descended to eye level. He noticed the feathered one right away and immediately floated up to her, smiling and flashing images over his head. She smiled as he flashed a picture of turtledoves flying around a large apple.

"What, you live in New York?" Jack asked.

"Ha, no. New York was the last place we had seen each other." She turned to the Sandman and smiled. "It has been a while. How have you been?"

Sandy clapped his hand and started a rather large conversation, flashing images all over his head. There was one of Pitch, Jack Frost with a crown over his head (Jack rolled his eyes at that), and the globe being covered in golden sand.

She raised her eyebrows and turned to Jack. "Wait, Pitch was back in town?"

"Yeah." The normally active guardian slumped. "It was pretty bad."

Her ears flicked forward, noticing the sudden change in demeanor. She narrowed her eyes at him, but Sandy noticed it too, waving his arms back at her.

"Sorry Sandy, were you guys okay?"

Sandy paused for a mere second and smiled, nodding. He flexed his chubby arms in a mock body builder style. She laughed, but she knew he was lying.

"So what are you doing here in Burgess anyway Val?" Jack asked, shaking himself back up to the conversation. "I thought you were hanging out in Paris."

"Well, I was. But you know… Humans need help all over the place, not just Paris. I needed a change of scenery anyway. And what about you? No offense, but it's the middle of April. Don't you think you should move to Alaska or something?"

Jack scoffed. "Well, I'd figure if I put out enough cold, you might molt."

She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. "I do not molt, you aggravating-"

"Relax bird-brain, you might pop a pinion."

Sandy covered his face with his hands. It was always like this when Jack Frost saw another spirit. Bad business all around he thought. The Keeper of Dreams floated between them as Jack leaned in to meet Val's heated glare. Sandy pushed them from each other the best he could, but they were insisting on fighting tonight. Sighing and feeling like the middleman, the weaver shoved both of them back in opposite directions with his sand. Val gasped and fell off the tower again, while Jack floated back a few feet.

Sandy rounded on Jack immediately, wagging a finger at him and sending a flurry of images of shaking hands and peace signs.

"Alright, Alright. Sorry Sandy." Sandy floated back to Val, concern written on his face. He came underneath her, using his sand to lift her upright.

He sat her on the tower again, and motioned for Jack to shoo. The Feathered spirit had her arms and legs crossed her nose in the air. She raised an eyebrow at him when he showed her a picture of herself with her hands on her hips, acting much like a sassy mama.

"Oh don't even. He started it anyway." But he smiled and patted her on the hand, flashing another sand picture of a letter and pen. "Yeah okay. I'll keep in touch. Just keep your little…friend… away from me."

Sandy smiled again and floated up to meet the Guardian of Fun, and he waved once more before rising up and out of sight.

Val Kayrie might be the Spirit of Love in a sense, but she was one of no nonsense and duty. Sandy knew this, as did most of the other spirits. She supposed Jack Frost simply didn't get the memo.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for such a small chapter guys. Eventually things will slow down enough to where I can you know…pretend to be a writer. **

Sandy let the strings of dream sand flow from his hands, conducting them like a well-manned orchestra. He wouldn't have compared himself to Mozart, but North certainly liked to give him trouble for it. It was the hair, he thought with a smile. It was always the hair.

He floated down lower toward the little city, floating past the houses and inspecting them. Not a nightmare in sight. It was when he floated up higher to get a better look at the city that he noticed it. A slight white glow in the middle of the night. Certainly not Jack, this was Hawaii. He watched onward as the glow came in for a landing.

It was Val again. She seemed to be working overtime. He shrugged and decided it was time to move on, but took one last sweep through the island. As he passed an old office building he heard a woman scream.

He jumped in surprise at the sharp noise, and floated to the top of a building to see where it had come from. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Val trying to stab another woman with an arrow while she played on her phone.

"Don't you understand that he's perfect, perfect, perfect?!" She shrieked, stabbing in tune with her rant. "Auuugh!"

She screamed again and whipped around, throwing the arrow across the street. Sandy was, to say the least, surprised. He might not have known Val on a very personal level, but he'd like to think they were friends. It was only then that he noticed a golden trickle of sand waving away from him.

He gasped and tried to pull it back, but the streams had personalities related to his subconscious. He tried explaining it once or twice to Jack, but the boy had an attention span of a goldfish.

He silently groaned as it wisped its way towards the aggressive Spirit of Love, and yanked it back as hard as he could. He fell back with a light thud, spinning the thread back to his center.

Val thought she heard something. She whipped around to see a slight glow on the rooftop, and growled. She whipped out another arrow and placed it in the bow, spreading her small wings and floating up to the roof. She leaned over the arch of the building, but there wasn't anything there other then a pile of leaves. She looked up, glaring. She knew she heard something.

She had told Jack very specifically that she didn't want his childish distractions while she was trying to work. But apparently, she needed to be a little more firm with what she meant.

It was then that she saw it; that little glow over on the next rooftop. She reacted before she could stop herself, cocking her arrow up and straight and firing it towards the glow.

There was a slight poof of golden sand and a volley of random letters and symbols. Val stopped breathing for a second when she realized who it was that she shot. She fluttered over to the roof and leaned over to see the Sandman jumping up and down holding his rear.

"Oh, Sandy! I'm sorry, what…what, are you and Jack following me or something?"

He shook his head, but pointed behind him and she noticed the arrow sticking out of his rear end like an odd tail. She made a grab at it but he bounced away from her, jabbing another image of arrows in behinds at her.

"Well, yes I know, would you hold-" She grabbed his shoulder and shoved him over, "on for five- seconds so I can take it out?"

She yanked it out, very unceremoniously. She stood back up straight holding the arrow, Sandy glaring up at her. He sent another round of images of himself lying on the ground and arrows flying around him like a school of sharks.

She tapped his head with the arrow gently, "Relax Sandy. They're made of light, they wouldn't hurt you."

He pursed his lips and sent up a picture of Jack Frost.

"It wouldn't have hurt him either, just a mild… prick."

Sandy raised his eyebrow at her and waggled a finger, floating up to meet her eye level. She respected him as a Guardian for certain, but it was hard not to have a slight attitude while she was trying to do her job. She sighed a bit, nodding her head as he floated in front of her face. "Yes, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

Seeming satisfied, he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at her. A picture of the island appeared above his head, and she shrugged a bit.

"I have places to be too, you know. Humans might be able to find a spouse, raise children." She sighed. "But finding your soul mate…that's completely different. There was a couple in this area I was hoping to unite. They might not have been soul mates, but they'd have made each other happy."

He smiled and nodded his head. But he noticed the bundle of arrows attached at her hip and pointed with a question mark over his head.

Val was uncomfortable with his question, but he seemed so good natured and concerned. She rolled her shoulders and shrugged again.

"I…I don't know. I find these people. I know they'll be good for each other. I mean, even the scroll is screaming for them to unite, but when I go to shoot… Nothing. It's like their own souls don't want the arrow." She sighed and sat down, Sandy still floating next to her. "I don't understand why. I've tried talking with the Lunar, but he's been silent to me for almost four centuries."

Sandy nodded, pointing at the moon. He made an image of himself talking with it, and Jack Frost appeared next to him. It was the last time he had talked to the Man on the Moon. When Jack was appointed the new Guardian. He pointed again and this time it was an image of her talking to the moon, but she shook her head.

"I've tried, Sandy. Everyday for what seems like years. He just…watches." He seemed put out, for certain. But made a volley of images that Val rolled her eyes to. "Yeah well, I wish he would 'mysteriously' tell me what's going on with my arrows. Humans need these."

The Dream-Weaver frowned, but nodded. He leaned over and patted her shoulder and started to float a little further off, sending an image of dust from his fingertips.

"Yeah, I need to go as well. You have a good evening, Sandman."

He nodded and waved, forming a cloud of dust to take him higher. Val watched him go, then looked back at her arrows. It was becoming a problem, but it was her problem. She would figure it out; she had to. She might not have been as well known as Santa Claus, but Valentines Day was her day to spread the love as much as possible. At the rate this was going, there might not be one.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the long wait – I've been having some issues trying to knock the third and fourth chapter out. But I think I found a happy medium with the point of view and whatnot. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I'm sorry its so short!**

It was a rare sight to see Val out so late. But then again, love never slept-so neither did she. Which was odd if you had asked anyone else. The spirits didn't really need sleep, but sleep was nice. It was the same for food. But Val's opinion on those matters usually made the other spirits groan at her stubborn nature. Why bother with something if it was deemed unnecessary?

Very few of her arrows had taken tonight, and she could feel herself start to get an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her ears were buzzing with the sounds from her harp. The strings grew ever restless. She was flying high above one of the buildings in Hong Kong, calling upon the wind to take her higher. She opened her wings as far as they could go, and the East Wind grabbed her and took her high above the city.

She strung the bow and pulled an arrow, shooting it up above her. There was a flash of light and she felt herself get yanked through the portal, coming out the other side. North's snow globes were just as similar, but she didn't need to hit hundreds of countries in one night. Val righted herself in the air, fluttering her wings to look down at her home.

She called it the Roost. It was just an old cathedral that had seen better days, but to her it was home. She had only been staying here for a few decades, so eventually when they condemned the building to be torn down, she would move on.

She gently landed on the roof, and a couple turtledoves cooed at her as she walked into the old attic through one of the open windows. She smiled and gently brushed one of the bird's heads with a finger. It snuggled down into its own feathers and drifted off, and Val sighed. She looked back out the window and pulled out her scroll; it was time to mark off the ones who hadn't taken her arrows.

The Guardians had one rule for Jack. Do not bother the lesser spirits. In fact, just don't bother anyone. Bother Bunnymund, bother North. Heck, even Sandy urged the boy to stay away from certain spirits. But Jack prided himself on bringing joy to _everyone_, not just the children of Burgess.

It had been quite a while since he'd seen Val. Almost a couple months. He had nonchalantly asked Sandy about her, but the elder only shrugged. He didn't keep track of her movements either. But the look of concern didn't escape Jack. She did say she would try to keep in touch, but so far Sandy had gotten

nothing.

He knew that Jack was going to go look for her. Sandy urged him to leave her alone, but he was so stubborn. Sandy had no choice but to follow.

And Jack knew that he would. Whenever the winter child knew he was going to do something that might…irritate their unspoken leader, he always dragged Sandy along to help ease the punishment.

Sandy was no fool; he knew exactly what Jack Frost was doing. But heaven help him, sometimes the jokes that Jack would play were just too good to pass up.

But when Jack mentioned Val, Sandy couldn't help that feeling of unease. He tried to explain that she was a loner and was best left alone, but it was lost in translation. Or Jack simply ignored the wise warning.

"So, do you know where she lives?" Jack asked as they flew side by side.

Sandy looked over at him, incredulous. He opened his hands and narrowed one of his eyes, almost saying _how should I know?_

"You're friends with her, aren't you?" Sandy looked rather surprised but shrugged a bit, not really answering Jacks question.

The truth was, he didn't really know Val that well. He had spoken with her on multiple occasions, yes, but she didn't really talk too much about herself. Just that she brought the arrows that made people feel like they were falling in love.

Jack shrugged and moved over a bit, shrugging the Sandman over. Jack wanted to play and Sandy smiled. He was more then happy to oblige.

They ducked and weave around each other through the air, both trying to trip the other up. The North wind danced along with them, guiding them around buildings and dodging trees.

Jack laughed as Sandy used his dreamsand to block his path, and Jack retorted with sending out a snowball that swung back to hit the older guardian in the face.

In a matter of minutes, they forgot about what they were trying to do and it turned into an all out battle, both Guardians trying to gain the upper hand. Sandy laughed silently as one of his manta rays swung out and caught jack in the rear, making the winter spirit squeal in surprise.

Sandy ducked down behind a building as Jack let a folly of snowballs towards him, and tried to catch a couple to send back. The North wind chattered around them, guiding some around their battlements to strike in the backs of their heads. Jack laughed as Sandy tried to look around one of the corner walls he was at, just to get a face full of snow.

It couldn't be helped. Jack was fun times, and Sandy was more of a child then a grown man. So the prospect of having a snow battle in the middle of a city as opposed to finding a cranky spirit was too good an opportunity to pass up.

The snowfall did not go unnoticed by the people. It would have been a perfect time for Val. Couples were laughing, throwing snowballs at each other. It was dark now, but the snow reflected the moonshine. He even seemed to be playing with them, letting moonbeams chase the children and shine down on a couple embracing in the cool night air.

But where was Val?

Much later after the snow melted away and the children were called in for bed, Sandy saw her. She was standing on a rooftop, watching a man and woman walk away. A little arrow of light was left in their departure and Val only watched on, her eyes full of sorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors note- Hey guys, thanks for being patient with me and this chapter. I've always had trouble with those middle chapters in stories, and sometimes I just get so frustrated with it I give up. I'm determined not to do that with this story, so we will see how this goes. **

She tried to sneak away unseen, but the Guardian of Dreams would have none of it. She knew that they were in the vicinity, and at her best she would have caught Jack's attention regardless. Val was only thankful that it was Sanderson who noticed her, and not the other.

He floated down to greet her, raising a question at her sad expression. She smiled at him; he was so kind to her though he didn't have to be.

"Its okay, Sanderson. But thank you for your concern. I'm simply…disappointed. I was sure that this one would take."

Sandy made a picture of an abacus and a question mark with arrows and a heart, but Val shook her head.

"I don't normally keep track of how many. The scroll is the one that does all that. I'm just the shooter."

He nodded and looked back down at the street. Jack was still playing around in the wind, distracted by the game it liked to play. Sandy watched him for a moment before turning back to Val, but she was walking away.

He was surprised at her sudden departure, and quickly floated over to her and taking her hand in his without thinking. Her entire arm went stiff and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. She felt a slight warmth creep into her cheeks as he let a little exclamation point gather over his head. He kept her hand in his and looked at her, his eyes full of concern. Her hand was freezing cold and he tsked her, rubbing her fingers to try and bring some warmth back into her frozen digits.

He expected Jack to be cold, but not Val. When he looked up at her, he gave her an image of a roaring fire, and a snowman.

"Oh, Sandy…its…" She shrugged, "Its fine. It's just the temperature."

He raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, just kept to her hands.

She wasn't used to people touching her, but she didn't want to be rude and pull her hand away from him. He looked up at her kindly and she couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips as he patted the top of her hand. Her fingers a little less frozen now, he gave her an image of mittens and let her go. He smiled at her and she cleared her throat nervously.

She avoided his gaze and instead looked up to see that the brightness of the moon was shadowed by something, a lone dark cloud. Strange.

She opened her mouth to say something, but she heard Jack yell and suddenly the wind smacked into the pair of spirits.

Val flew over the rooftop, the wind gathering her up in a protective swoop. She managed to open her eyes to see the golden orbs of a giant black horse, its sharp teeth gnashing in front of her face. It hit her full on in the chest, and she gasped out a cry before she was slammed back into the side of a building.

She felt something go right through her. Hot, invasive- right through her center. She managed a shriek before gathering the light into her hands and instinctively shoving the Nightmare back, but it wasn't enough.

It bit down on her arm, and she felt the searing heat again at her chest. She tried to call onto the light, but it faded out. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to scream, but then a golden glow made her open her eyes.

The arc of golden dreamsand hit the Nightmare on the side, ripping through the corrupted sand. It gave a shriek and released Val, and she fell from the side of the building and onto a giant golden killer whale. Sandy was at the head of his creation, twirling his arms over his head, having the arcs of sand swirl around them for protection.

She looked down at her chest where the nightmare had struck her, but there was nothing. The only injury she had sustained was the bite to her arm, which was flowing freely. Sandy moved from the head of the whale to its dorsal fin where she had fallen, and kneeled down to look at her arm.

Jack came flying in, ducking between the arcs of sand and landed easily next to the pair, sighing as he stood over them.

"That was close."

"What the hell was that?" Val grimaced, watching Sandy swirl his hand over her arm. He made golden sand wrap around her wounds, stinting the flow of blood.

"I'm not sure. We've been having some trouble with the Nightmares since that whole mess with Pitch. Nothing too serious, but they come and go. You okay?"

Val nodded and Sandy patted her arm, making a little picture of the North Pole and a question mark.

"No no, I don't need to see North." Val shuddered. The last time she had seen the large booming Guardian, he had almost crushed her rips with the force of his embrace. Sandy seemed to catch onto this and nodded, but pointed at her injured arm and then to himself, and a little plus sign for healing.

She frowned down at her arm, but patted her chest where she had felt that searing heat. There was nothing there, not even a blemish. Sandy touched her arm, looking at her questioningly- but she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, nothing Sandy. I guess it just hit me really hard." Sandy nodded, but made a picture of a sun going up twice, then a feather and a sand swirl. He was going to check on her in two days, he said. Just to make sure everything was all right.

The orca that they rode made one last sweep through the little city, making sure the single Nightmare had gone. The left as soon as they had come, and Jack was unsure what had drawn it out. It was odd, Jack thought. Just one Nightmare- they usually come in a flock of at least five or six at the least. But he shrugged to himself. Maybe it was just one that had gotten left behind. Eventually, Sandy patted the side of the whale and it took them higher up to the cloudline.

Sandy dispersed the sea creature with a flurry of his hands, making it turn back into his golden dreamsand cloud, and Val thought it was best for her to leave. She still had other places to go to, and the scroll as her side pulsed with light, demanding the names to be shot.

She gathered the light and it created a little portal arrow, but she frowned as she looked at it. She pulled the bow from her side and cocked the arrow as straight as she could, and Sandy noticed her bit her lip with discomfort.

His hand came warm onto her shoulder, but she shrugged him off as gently as she could.

"Don't worry, Sanderson. I've had worse wounds, trust me."

She shot the arrow and sighed in relief as the small portal of light appeared. She opened her wings and looked over at the Winter Spirit and Dream Maker, bowing her head.

"Thank you for the help." She said, Jack smiled.

"Well, let us know if you need any help. Its not like we're busy or anything." Sandy looked over at him and smiled, shaking his head. Val smiled in response to them and jumped off the cloud, heading into the portal. Sandy watched her go until she disappeared into the light and sat back on his cloud, deep in thought.

It didn't go unnoticed by Jack, who cleared his throat and smiled down at Sandy. He looked up at the youngest Guardian and rolled his eyes, waving a hand to blow off the little smirk that Jack held for him.

"Strange that the Nightmare attacked her though, don't you think?" Jack asked, twirling his staff. "The only reason I noticed is cause it blew right by me."

It was strange, Sanderson thought. He brought the sand up and made darker golden sand next to blinding almost white sand, and Jack shrugged.

"I've got white hair. Maybe it just took her because it saw that little look in your eye."

Sandy looked at Jack, incredulous. Jack laughed, as he had never seen the Sandman flustered before, but Sandy retorted with a picture of Toothiana and Jack kissing under the mistletoe and a calendar to mark which date Christmas was.

"H-Hey! That doesn't got nothing to do with this!" Jack said, but Sandy laughed silently. He shook his head and guided them up higher, swirling the sand around them to turn into a little sailboat. He grabbed the rope for the sail and Jack leaned back against the bow of the boat, his arms behind his head.

Sandy smiled and adjusted a little skipper hat he created and Jack whistled at the wind. It caught the sail and the DreamWeaver pointed them in the direction of Burgass. He would drop Jack off at home before he decided to hit a city for dreams tonight. Jack let his eyes close and tapped his foot to the waves of dreamsand.

******** Page Break ********

By the time Val returned to the roost, her arm was throbbing. The dreamsand wrap that Sanderson gave her seemed to pulsate in tune with it, and she winced when she took a breath and that sharp pain entered her chest again.

That Nightmare must have hit her hard enough to break something, and she twitched her wings in irritation. She only hoped that her body could heal quickly before she got swamped with more names to be shot, not that it was really mattering at this point.

She grit her teeth and sat down on a chair that she had sitting in the corner. She was exhausted, and though they were spirits that didn't require sleep, she felt like a nap might be a nice thing.

She closed her eyes and waited but after an hour of trying to at least doze, she gave up. There was no point anyway, for soon after she felt the strings of her bow start to hum and the scroll glowed with new names. Time for work again.


End file.
